753
submitted 1 year ago by DevCat@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

“I’ll tell you a secret, since media is not here. Thank you for not allowing the media in. Look, I’m a Southern Baptist, I don’t wanna get too spooky on you, But, you know, the Lord speaks to your heart.

“The Lord began to wake me up, through this three-week process, in the middle of night to speak to me. The Lord impressed upon my heart a few weeks before this happened that something was going to occur.

“And the Lord very specifically told me in my prayers to prepare, but to wait. At the time, I assumed the Lord was going to choose a new Moses and thank you, Lord, you’re going to allow me to be Aaron to Moses.

“I had this sense that we were going to come to a Red Sea moment in our Republican conference and in the county at large. God had been speaking to me about this, and the Lord told me very clearly to prepare and be ready.

“Ultimately 13 people ran for the post. And the Lord kept telling me to, ‘Wait, wait, wait.’ So I waited, I waited. And then at the end the Lord said, ‘Now step forward.’

“Me? I’m supposed to be Aaron. ‘No,’ the Lord said, ‘Step forward.’” – Mike Johnson, speaking last night to the far-right National Association of Christian Lawmakers.

This man is a true believer. True believers do not compromise anything that goes against what they believe their religion tells them. This man is far more dangerous than Donald Trump, who is simply a grifter and was in it for himself. This guy thinks the gods have ordained him. Anybody who stands against him is going against God, in his own mind.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

You're right that it's more complicated than that. But I thought it was well understood that he was working behind the scenes from the beginning to intentionally craft the narrative of a paternalistic, aggressive faith that was pro-war and anti-government. Is that not your understanding? Because Phyllis Schlafly preceded him and she was definitely in that same vein.

I might have the causality a little bit off, though. Most of my information comes from Kristin Du Mez's work, but it's been a while so I might be misremembering parts of it. I grew up in evangelicalism, but in the late 80s and 90s when everything was pretty well humming along toward Trump or somebody like him—even though we didn't know it yet.

I also forgot to mention how all of that was building on the racist work of antebellum preachers who said that freedom for slaves was essentially an early sign of the apocalypse and certainly the end of the world was coming soon (that's more or less the way that the Rapture, which was a fringe theology up to that point, became popularized). It was then that American Christianity went from being mostly outward-focused in daily life and insular in ways of politics to being insular in daily life and outward-focused in ways for politics.

In any case, it was a gross history constructed by people trying to gain power for themselves and the Republican party. I do know that the big turning point came when they decided to come out against abortion specifically because they thought Jimmy Carter was too popular among Christians.

[-] DarthBueller@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

We’re on the same page, friend. I suppose my point is that the self-appointed leaders of white evangelicalism past and present got where they are by a feedback loop between themselves and their followers. You can only sell something like hotcakes if people want what’s on offer. People wanted justification for slavery, they got it. People wanted justification for persecution of secularist jews, they got the Red Scare and McCarthyism. I’d argue that the modern christofascism has its roots most directly in McCarthyism. The John Birch Society is a white Christian nationalist organization that had its heyday in the 50s and early 60s, but really just was giving people what they wanted. A quick fix of endorphins that comes from defining and hating an evil other.

[-] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Indeed, absolutely on the same page. I've heard it said before that God's harshest judgement is to give people what they want.

this post was submitted on 07 Dec 2023
753 points (97.0% liked)

politics

19241 readers
2518 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS